How does the musical Hamilton show intertextuality through Hip-Hop?

Hamilton, a musical produced by Jeffrey Seller and written by Lin Manuel-Miranda in 2015, combines history and modern day Hip-Hop to tell the story surrounding the life of the lesser known founding father Alexander Hamilton. Throughout this essay I am going to be exploring how Hamilton coveys elements of Postmodernism, specifically intertextuality. To enhance my critical thinking I have used sources such as Understand Postmodernism: Teach Yourself by Glenn Ward (2010) and An introduction to theories of Popular Culture 2nd edition by Dominic Strinati (1995). Both of these books allowed me to grasp a better understanding of the Post Modernist era, how intertextuality comes under the bracket of Postmodernism and how it applies to Hamilton.

The term postmodernism came around in the 1970s as a backlash against modernism ‘Postmodernism was a reaction to modernism.’ (McDonald, 2010) Modernism can be defined as having an emphasis on the new and rejection of the past, the movement focuses more on bringing art towards the modern society. On the other hand Postmodernism cannot be defined as just one subject, ‘Postmodernism sought the multiplicity of truths,’   (McDonald, 2010) it links to matters revolving around society, culture, specific ideas and certain artistic styles, also on the contrary to Modernism, Postmodernism welcomes the ideas of the past and even goes to the extent of taking elements into the surrounding concepts. 

As mentioned within the introduction, I would be delving into intertextuality and how Hamilton relates to this concept. Intertextuality is the way in which texts intertwine, it is how one text is shaped by another person’s text.  Julia Kristeva, the founder of the term intertextuality, believes that ‘authors do not create their texts from their own mind, but rather compile them from pre-existent texts,’ (Kristeva, Roudiez and Gora, 1993) this then gives the notion that no single idea is original, it has many connections branching off from it and this is how that certain piece of text is shaped. Roland Barthes, a theorist upon Intertextuality, with many of his ideas being inspired by Julia Kristeva’s work, believes that ‘nothing exists outside the text, there is never a whole of the text.’ This links back to Julia Kristeva’s theory that the text does not belong to the individual and is made up from multiple pieces of writing.

Figure. 1

(Walsh, 2017) 

 (Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa & DJ Kool Herc)

Hamilton links to intertextuality in the way hip-hop culture has been intertwined throughout the music and dance style within the production. Hip-hop, the combination of poetry and jazz, started around the 70s after, African-American, DJ Kool Herc (Clive Campbell) began creating music from two turntables by producing a repeating beat which would then form into rapping. Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa  are considered the founders of hip-hop too. Out of Hip-Hop came the Black rights movement, it wasn't just about the music and the stopping of youth from taking drugs and drinking but about how this movement was used as a way to increase Black pride and try and put a stop to the racism that was going on. ‘Emancipation Proclamation? Please! / Lincoln just said  that to save the nation / These are lies that we all accepted / And yet, they say this is the Home of The Free / But if you ask me, it’s all about hypocrisy.’ (Tupac and Shock G 1991) Within this song lyric from Tupac, Words of Wisdom, we can see clearly that he is struggling to fight for Black civil rights and coming from a background where fighting for civil rights had the upmost importance, Tupac has first hand experience and a wide knowledge upon the subject. He is expressing how the government claim they are trying to help however no change is happening for Black rights, racism and inequality is still extremely visible. This links very closely to the quote from Hamilton ‘But we’ll never be truly free / until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me.’ (Manuel-Miranda, 2015) Here it is being expressed, by the character John Laurens, that until everyone is free, freedom has not been reached. It has to be the same for everyone and not just a select few, otherwise equality has not been genuinely achieved.  This has a close link to Tupac’s song ‘Words of Wisdom’ as they both express the struggle for equality and how it has not yet been achieved.

The Hip-Hop culture has been incorporated into Hamilton in many ways, this can be seen through the way the music and the dance style reflect upon racial issues, and political matters which is a key theme within many Hip-Hop artists songs. For example ‘Cabinet Battle #1,’ this song discusses the matters of financial issues within the cabinet meeting and is exposed in the form of a rap battle. The line ‘Such a blunder, sometimes it makes me wonder why I even bring the thunder’(Manuel-Miranda 2015), sung by Jefferson, where he is mocking Hamilton because he does not have the right amount of votes to gain congressional approval, is almost a copy of the lyric ‘It makes me wonder how / I keep from goin' under’ (Grandmaster Flash 1982) from Grandmaster Flash’s song ‘The Message; in this he is talking about New York and how easily it is to get lost within this concrete jungle. The meanings of both the lyrics do not match up however it is more about the hype that is portrayed when the songs are performed, both the character Jefferson and Grandmaster Flash are

Figure.2 (The Online Odyssey, 2017)

trying to build up the energy for the audience to get them on their side.

Another way Hip-Hop has been incorporated into the production is the link through the lyric ‘Brrrah, brraaah I am Hercules Mulligan’ (Manuel-Miranda 2015) from the song ‘Aaron Burr, Sir’ and the lyric ‘Secretly though, I know you admire that, You wish you had the balls to fire back, brrrap!’ from Jay-Z’s song ‘Say Hello.’(Jay-Z 2007). Within both songs  they have incorporated the use of gun noises, this could be a symbolisation for the violence going on towards non-white races and the extreme racism which takes place. Jay - Z gained inspiration for ‘Say Hello’ from the film ‘Jena Six,’ which was based upon six Black teenagers who were argued to have been convicted unjustly for a crime they had committed, it was believed to have a been racial discrimination. 

This then also links onto the idea of race within Hamilton. Lin Manuel-Miranda intentionally made the whole cast, apart from King George, non-white even though traditionally they would have been white. This had been done so that the right message could be put across, a message which explored the idea of race and told the story of Black rights accurately. 

Consequently this brings me onto the topic of racism which is still present today, even though Hamilton is based off history, the concepts within still have a strong link with the present times. Racism within America is still happening, however there is a strong sense of pride and fight within the Black community. An example of this could be the Black Lives Matter hashtag that started on Twitter in 2013 after George Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch participant, shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old black student, dead, calling it self defence. The hashtag became used much more after many other unjust shootings were happening to Black people. Kristian Williams commented ‘It ought to be obvious that Black lives matter, that Black people matter, and by implication, that their murder, especially at the hands of the state, cannot go unanswered.’(Williams, n.d.) Williams is stating that we shouldn't have to be creating these movements and making people understand that Black Lives matter because it should already be in place; there should already be equality going on between races however there is a lot of unjust acts being taken out towards Black people and it should have come to a stop by now. This is what is trying to be expressed through Hamilton, the fact that slaves should be abolished and just because he was raised in a ‘born in the Caribbean, by providence, impoverished, in squalor’ (Hamilton 2015) he shouldn't have less of a right.

Overall Hamilton links to intertextuality through the use of combining Hip-Hop with history; the main examples of this are Miranda’s links to famous Hip-Hop artists, Jay-Z and Grandmaster Flash. Within the song ‘Aaron Burr Sir’ there is a link towards Jay-Z’s ‘Say Hello' through the use of gun sounds to convey a message. By using inspiration from Hip-Hop artists Miranda was able to fully capture the essence of hip-hop. Hip-Hop can be used by artists as a way to bring to light the racism which is happening and make people fully aware of the inequality that Black lives face. This is also what Lin Manuel-Miranda is trying to portray through his use of hip hop and by using a non-white cast he is showing that it's ok to be prideful of your race.

Images 

Figure.1 Walsh, A. (2017). Breakdown: Planet Rock. [image] Available at: http://hiphopgoldenage.com/breakdown-planet-rock/ [Accessed 30 Nov. 2017].

Figure. 2. The Online Odyssey (2017). Why Is Hamilton So Popular? From a Writing Perspective. [image] Available at: http://pamelapanauthor.com/2017/05/03/why-is-hamilton-so-popular-from-a-writing-perspective/ [Accessed 30 Nov. 2017].

Books

Allen, G. (2011). Intertextuality. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge, p.35.

Barthes, R., Miller, R. and Balzac, H. (1975). S/Z. Translated by Richard Miller. London: Cape, p.6. 

Kristeva, J., Roudiez, L. and Gora, T. (1993). Desire in language. New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press. 

Strinati, D. (2004). An introduction to theories of popular culture. 2nd ed. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, pp.205-206.

Miranda, L., McCarter, J. and Hargitay, M. (2016). Hamilton. 1st ed. New York: Melcher Media.

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